Compared to recent years, the Big Ten definitely had a downswing in performance this year. This showed up in a painful way on February 11th when the NCAA Committee released an early preview of the bracket's top 16 teams and the Big Ten was a glaring omission from it. The closest team at that time, Wisconsin, has since had a meltdown by losing five of their last seven games of the season. The conference champion, Purdue is the only team left that could possibly get a top four seed and they currently are on the four line in bracket projections.
Besides Purdue, the other teams projected to get an at large bid are Minnesota (6 seed), Maryland (6 seed), Wisconsin (despite their collapse they are on the 7 line), and Michigan (9 seed). Of special note, the last major conference team to not make the NCAA Tournament, the oft-maligned Northwestern Wildcats are at long, long last projected to make the Big Dance, currently as a 9 seed.
The Big Ten's bubble teams include Michigan State, currently in the field as a 10 seed, and then Illinois and more recently Iowa. Both the Illini and the Hawkeyes are out of the projected field at present so they will have some work to do.
All 14 teams of the conference made the tournament. The top four seeds got a double bye to the quarterfinals and the fifth through tenth seeds got a single bye. The tournament will take place at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C.
First Round-Wednesday, March 8th
#13 Penn State vs. #12 Nebraska
#14 Rutgers vs. #11 Ohio State
Second Round-Thursday, March 9th
#9 Illinois vs. #8 Michigan
#12 Nebraska vs. #5 Michigan State
#10 Indiana vs. #7 Iowa
#11 Ohio State vs. #6 Northwestern
Quarterfinals-Friday, March 10th
#8 Michigan vs. #1 Purdue
#5 Michigan State vs. #4 Minnesota
#7 Iowa vs. #2 Wisconsin
#6 Northwestern vs. #3 Maryland
Semifinals-Saturday, March 11th
#8 Michigan vs. #5 Michigan State
#3 Maryland vs. #2 Wisconsin
Championship-Sunday, March 12th
If Michigan was in any danger of missing the tournament and there is to be some mild concern even if a team is projected as a single digit seed with five days to Selection Sunday, they will have already erased them by making the title game run. Wisconsin will have cured what ails them by making a run as well, getting them on even footing for the tournament. As for the automatic bid, Wisconsin will have played one less game by this point and being less tired will help as the Badgers win the Big Ten Tournament.
Michigan 60, Wisconsin 68
No comments:
Post a Comment